We have a goal

Who we are

Sustainable Seas Trust is an NPO that supports and connects communities across Africa through education, enterprise development and growing awareness about ocean conservation and plastic pollution. We also build networks for sharing information and support focused on waste management.

Why our work is important. Africa has some of the most exquisite, biodiverse and marine-rich coastlines in the world. We need to protect them. Waste-focused studies predict that by 2050 there will be more plastic littering Africa and entering its seas than any other continent. This vast pollution, combined with habitat destruction and over-fishing, stands to collapse the ocean’s ecosystems, and that is a threat to us humans. In addition, addressing poverty and human health are fundamental in the fight against marine pollution. Healthy communities lead to a healthy environment.

Our mission

To grow a network of stakeholders in the conservation and waste-management sectors to facilitate best practices around conservation of Africa’s seas, and the management of waste at source, before it flows into them.

From our Blog

Abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear (ALDFG or ghost gear) is one of the major sources of marine pollution. It not only threatens marine wildlife through entanglement and continued catching of target and non-target species, called “ghost fishing”,...

This last quarter of 2018 has been excellent for Sustainable Seas Trust: not only did it successfully launch the African Youth Waste Network in Port Elizabeth on 29 October, it was also granted bridging finance at an event in Cape Town on 2 November. This funding...

‘Young people have an incredibly important role [when it comes to plastic pollution], but you must get on top of it!’ This good-natured order came from Derek Hanekom, Acting Minister of Environmental Affairs, at the launch of the African Youth Waste...

Plastic is everywhere, in what we wear, covering the things and food we buy, in the tyres on which we drive, it’s even in the teabags we steep in water. We use it all the time in ways we don’t even know, and yet we feel righteous saying no to a plastic...

Rick-Ernest Bonnier of Clean Ocean, member of the African Marine Waste Network Rick-Ernest Bonnier, 27, wants to change the world. In particular, he wants to rid it of the scourge of plastic pollution that is enveloping marine life around the globe –...

For a week in September, 630 adults and 1200 school learners rolled up their sleeves to pick up trash. The result: 15 tons of rubbish was cleaned off beaches, streets, and out of estuaries in the Nelson Mandela Bay metropole. This remarkable figure was also boosted...

Remember when the Swartkops estuary was swimmable and free of rubbish? That was not so long ago. There was also a time when the places where we live, work and play had fewer ‘plastic flowers’ and less litter on the streets. These days, though, wherever you look –...

One of the most exciting items of news this year for all initiatives focused on oceans and keeping our oceans clean is the fact that the Norwegian government earlier this year doubled its allocation to develop programmes around the world that combat...